WordPress 2.8 Out, Raises Usability Bar for Drupal 7

Hi Chelsi,

Interesting writeup on WordPress and their new release. You certainly seem very enthused about it. Being a WordPress user myself for my tiny blog, I will most likely check it out sometime.

I wanted to correct a couple things about your mention of Drupal's “plugin manager” project, its status and its intentions.

1. “For the technically challenged, it appears that working with themes in Acquia's Drupal is akin to scaling K2”

I think that's a false analogy and any research into the matter shows it isn't all that scary, but a more important point is that Drupal is not “Acquia's Drupal”. It is just Drupal, Acquia doesn't own the Drupal source code, and has no more say in the direction of Drupal than anyone else who puts time in. Drupal is, and will remain, a true open source project. Acquia is a services and support company structured around Drupal.

2. The Plugin Manager project - http://drupal.org/project/plugin_manager was led by Joshua Rogers (who is also w/ Acquia now). This is an add-on module which, once installs allows in-site GUI installs of modules for Drupal 6. It has been available for months. Not sure if you knew that.

The issue referenced above is related to making this functionality a part of the Drupal 7 release itself, not as an add-on. Many people are working on this, most notable Charlie Gordon who initiated the drive in the first place.

you also wrote:
“Unfortunately, working such a tool into Drupal's core has presented some issues, which Singh also covers. But hey, at least they're trying.”

There are no issues working it into Drupal core.
The main thing we are trying to overcome technically is something which I believe wordpress does not do, which is ensure that the add-ons downloaded from wordpress.org are authentic and not tampered. This is a major security concern, and package signing (like you will find in GNU Linux distros), is a very important part of such a system, and we don't want to launch without this in place.

If a server in between yourself and the provider of add-ons is compromised, or you are subject to a XSS attack without package signing, a hacker would be able to install and run code on your site. We'd like to take it a little slow, and make sure we get it right, even if it means being “one step behind”.

Thanks for the mention and I'll be sure to follow up when we get the plugin manager done to send you a demo and get your feedback.

Best,
Jacob

Let's be clear.

If you want a blog, use WordPress or Movable Type (or whatever).

If you want a community-centric site, use Drupal.

If you want something in-between, do a bit more research.

To say that WP is one step ahead is somewhat crass in this context.

In what way is that clear? The recent updates to WordPress (and now BuddyPress) make WordPress useful for a lot more than weblogs.

what gets done in drupal that doesnt get done in wordpress? beside a 6 figure development bill?

The old addage “Time is Money” holds particularly true in the fields of web freelancing, contracting and development. Wordpress holds the edge on Drupal when it comes to rapid development, deployment and end-user-friendliness. Given the state of the World's economies, it' obvious that Wordpress would best Drupal as the choice for blogs and CMS's (like news sites).

I'm surprised at how often Joomla flies under the radar in situations like this, though. Once you move beyond simple blogs and editorial based news sites, Wordpress's limits *really* show. But whereas many would assume Drupal as the logical option, Joomla 1.5.x (and soon 1.6.x), is actually superior based on the afformentioned criteria. With the advent of Joomla 1.6, I fail to see why anyone would want to persue the convoluted development and maintenance present with Drupal.

Of course, I only speak for myself here. What drives me towards Joomla is what I have been able to achieve with it. What keeps me going is how straight-forward the framework is (to me), how rapid development can be, and how my performance (measured by what I have been able to produce) measures against my peers (*superior* and *faster*).

I digress. Wordpress is fast becoming (if not already) an industry standard. The measure of open source software is in the strength and profitability of the community which drives it's development. In that case, Wordpress is a winner.

i have to agree with mike. if you want a blog, use wordpress or one of the other many blogging platforms. but once you try to move beyond a blog using wordpress, it becomes painfully obvious how limited wordpress is for much past a blog. it just depends on what you're trying to build. in my case i use drupal day in and day out (and i spent 3-4 years with wordpress prior to now) and i love it.

Drupal despite its content creation advantages has some serious problem when it comes to true social-net based community sites. Despite massive requests over the last 2 to 3 years they have not solved or shown any eagerness to solve this. It is almost hell as impossible to do in Drupal what WordpressMU+Buddypress (or for that matter Elgg) can do almost out-of-the-box.

If you are not concerned with the following factors Drupal is not a problem for you.

TEN FACTORS YOU NEED BE AWARE ABOUT DRUPAL

1. Drupal has no concern for Privacy. You cannot hide your online status or decide to show them at will. Either it is on for all users or it is off for all users.
2. Abuse control - The Abuse module has threshold set to hide content when say, for example, 10 users report against a content it is supposed to get hidden. Now if you have Views ( a plugin to build up topic lists and display) the hidden topic still shows up. The two plugins or modules do not talk to each other.
3. Blocking an user - Very imperfect! Blocked users can still pester you by PM. Either you put PM totally on or totally off - you cannot block a single user completely
4. RSS - the site admin cannot put off RSS. The users have no choice top put on or off RSS of their own posts.
5. No decent image gallery. All the forum posts and support sites like Lullabot will say you have to download and upload at least five to six modules, write codes or import codes and a lot of fuss. Simple album for each user on your site - no easy Drupal way
6. Out of the box easy to manage Social Profile like Buddypress, Elgg or Dolphin Boonex - Forget it in Drupal!!
7. MULTIPLE BLOGS per user - you can configure Wordpress MU to have as many blogs as an user wants. This is simply impossible in Drupal
8. Search - Drupal does not rely on its own Search they pack with the core. They use a Java search instead. Most hosts do not support php and java together. Acquia sells it as a service. Very weird.
9. Drupal support community, apart from a stony dull face, says these things regularly “too many posts for us to handle” “users do not contribute” “code yourself” “pay someone to get things done” - whether this is good or bad is up to you
10. “Drupal may do this or do that, Drupal X will bring the star and moon for you, so many works are going on” but all that is in FUTURE, by that time WP may have advanced more. So, if you are concerned with the time called NOW…

Or, they are tools that work or do not work well in a problem domain. None is better or worse. There, end of story. Drama about software: meaningless.

I will note, however, that an advantage Drupal and Joomla have over Wordpress is the CiviCRM module for non-profits. So see, its not that they are better or worse, its just they are different tools. Or, maybe its just an issue of personal preference, or what makes sense to different people. I like Drupal's slogan, “Community Plumbing”. When you plumb a house, you put the pipes where they need to go, one by one. Sometimes you have to do a little hack to get a result (writing or extending code). Its made from this perspective mostly, not to please people who are superficially design oriented, and who have no training in taking the time to learn a highly customizable framework. This is our problem in America right now - laziness and blaming others for our own shortcomings in learning.

Drupal's current UI development works are being done in a Wordpress blog http://www.d7ux.org/ - what more can be said? Many of the Wordpress features are being “feature-lifted”, maybe under new skins, to combat market share losses to WP. However, as pointed one post above, no one is attentive to the lack of features like Wordpress MU or Buddypress. And unless features are there it will be a like house with no rooms but beautiful doors and windows!

I would like to see Wordpress take the reigns and become what Drupal should have become. It's painfully obvious that Drupal will not become more like Wordpress so instead of wishing and hoping for Drupal, focus on Wordpress's future instead. Drupal is for programmers who are happy to spend hours and hours with site issues. Wordpress is about simple and fast and getting it done and then going to the beach.

The one thing I hate most about Wordpress is their need to attach wp- to every line of code and every file, wtf is up with that ? I usually strip clean every trace of wp- before I install.